Workshop with Cefn Burgess at Ruthin Craft Centre

I made this panel - using an embellisher machine and adding extra straight stitch machine embroidery over the top. It is Algot's "summerhouse", the old farmhouse where we stayed in 1995 that used to belong to my dad's Swedish friend and former work colleage. The "trees" on either side of the door are branches cut down from the forest (birch I think) and used to decorate the doorway for Midsommardagen (midsummer's day, the great Swedish summer festival). It is slightly smaller than A4 size.

Cefn uses embellishment machines in his work and we had a chance to use three machines - a Babylock, a Husquavarna and a Janome. Each gave a slightly different look to the finished needlepunched fabric, as the number of needles varied. Working from the back of the piece was also useful for giving a softer look to the design. I really enjoyed working with the embellisher and can see lots of possibilities for one!

We started by making drawings from our photos. The yellow house in the bottom corner is Algot's daughter's home, but I decided to do the older house instead.

You can see more of Cefn's work here or visit his studio at Ruthin Craft Centre. If you have a chance to do a workshop with him, I would recommend it.

Cefn works with Welsh flannel. There were several other local quilters at the workshop and we were all drooling over the vibrant colours of the flannel fabrics. Of course, these are the fabrics that Welsh quilts are made from traditionally. They give a quilt a very different appearance from cottons. Being thicker, detailed patchwork isn't easy and the hand quilting stitches on a lot of old Welsh wool quilts are also larger than modern quilters aim to achieve.

Rozanne Hawksley at Ruthin Craft Centre

Today is the final day of Rozanne Hawksley's exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre. To mark the final weekend, Rozanne has been giving talks in the gallery and yesterday led a discursive workshop on the theme of "In my beginning, is my end". As a birthday treat for last weekend, I attended the workshop, where we discussed themes, links & works (among other things), with all the students using several objects with "sentimental" associations as a starting point. Many interesting issues were raised, and we may even get back together as a group to show works inspired by the exhibition - we will have to see how it goes!

Rozanne's own work is of a very personal nature, drawing on her life experiences. It could be described best as textile sculpture/installation, although embroidery is a major element. Click the links below to see her work on other websites (she doesn't have her own site).

Ruthin Craft Centre

Exhibition photos by Dewi Lloyd, on flicker (you canplay these as a slideshow)

In the Beginning - forthcoming exhibit with the Knitting & Stitching Show

The Sixty Two Group of Textile Artists

Wales Arts International

National Electronic & Video Archive of the Crafts (NEVAC) - this video has been playing as part of the exhibition (sorry, the link just gives you info about the video, not the video itself).

Interface exhibition review

Mary Schoeser's book about Rozanne Hawksley

Wales Online interview

Embroiderers' Guild "In their own words" (opens a pdf file)

It was not at all surprising that among Rozanne's own postcard collection, there were images of the Margaret Laton jacket from the V & A.

Thursday evening at Ruthin Craft Centre

DON'T FORGET - vote for Ruthin Craft Centre for the ART FUND PRIZE now! Click this link!

There was a good turn out of knitters and crocheters at Ruthin Craft Centre tonight. Predictably, there were more knitters than crocheters and the crochet pieces ended up bigger than the knitted ones - it is a much quicker technique. We hooked & knitted for 55 minutes. Sophie Horton, the artist in residence & chief knitter, is on the far left in the photo above.

I managed 54 rows of 26 treble stitches, plus the foundation chain and a few extra stitches on a final row. As we all took turns on crocheting or knitting a communal piece, with giant hooks and needles, during that time as well as our own pieces, I estimate I managed a similar number of stitches on this "marathon" as I would on the usual speed test 3 minutes "sprint". My trusty Clover crochet hook, with the ergonomic handle, is included in the photo below.


Excluding the partly done row that's 1404 trebles x 4 = 5616 points, plus 162 turning chains & 26 starting chains (1 point each) = 5804

Divided by 55 minutes = 105.5 points per minute

My New York points record was 319 points (76 3/4 treble stitches) and my Harrogate Knitting & Stitching Show record in 2001 was 296 points, both in 3 minutes, so I must have speeded up a bit (especially as it took about 3 minutes out of the time to work on the communal piece and didn't include the final part row in the count). Maybe it was all just more relaxed!

There was a prize too - a voucher to spend on one of the Craft Centre's publications. Prizes were also awarded to the fastest knitter and the most creative piece (a crocheted flower). It was easy to find something I wanted in the gallery shop - a catalogue/book about David & Margaret Frith's pots. They are two of my favourite ceramicists.


If you are interested in fun knitting & crochet events in other parts of the UK, or joining a knitting or crochet group (or setting up your own), the UKHKA website (formerly the BHKC) is a good place to start. There is a wealth of information and useful links.

You can visit the Craft Centre and see Sophie's installation, "Hanging Out", until June 28, 2009. From the exhibition brochure -

Sophie Horton's practice on this residency... has been concerned with how textiles occupy the external environment. Can a dramatic, knitted, colouful, site-specific artwork alter an apparently fixed urban or rural landscape in any meaningful way? And can a temporary installtion survive in the memory?

Sunset from the countyard -